"Sim Days": Preparing Humanitarian Teams for Emergency Response
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• Portland, Oregon, June 15
• Silicon Valley Sim Day , September 19

The team comes together for the first Sim Day exercise in Portland , Oregon in June. On the left, Steve Okay of Inveneo sets up a 12V computer on the wireless network. On the right, Jeff Allen, tech coordinator, chats with Tim Murphy of Invictus Networks. The following week, Jeff headed to Liberia with Doctors Without Borders!

Diamond Sponsor Participating Organizations

On June 15, a group of 16 tech volunteers gathered in Portland to test the use of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) designed to support a Humanitarian Information Center .

The cooperation was outstanding. Within hours, the team had a mission-ready communications center set up in a church parking lot. Although few of the team members had met each other beforehand, our tech coordinator and veteran of Katrina relief, Jeff Allen, quickly had the team organized for success.

The capability demonstrated at the first Sim Day could be quickly mobilized for critical communications in a disaster or crisis. See the link to TechReach International below.

Among the technologies that were demonstrated:

• Operational satellite communications, including the new broadband BGAN terminal from Telenor
• Long-haul wireless networks – a "virtual wire" to bring Internet access to the point of need
• New low-power computers from Inveneo
• A situational awareness application from Global Relief Technologies, with geospatial data on the simulation scenario (a major earthquake)
• Solar and battery power to simulate off-grid conditions

Both Steve and I really enjoyed participating and I feel that great progress is being made in coordinating and corralling the energy for emergency preparedness planning!

Kristin Peterson, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer, Inveneo

Sim Day attendees also learned about TechReach International, an initiative to recruit and mobilize technology volunteers for supporting relief operations. This initiative is being organized by Dr. Don Bruce, a member of HumaniNet's board of directors.